November 8 2015, my wife and I, with no apparent plan, found ourselves on the outbound flight from JKF to Taiwan, and then to Myanmar. The decision going back to Myanmar was swift. My wife wanted to see her ailing father, and spontaneously it triggered my 12 years of nostomania finally exploded. It was also my birthday coincided with the day of election in Myanmar. Myanmar people, inside and outside of the country, were in high spirit during the final day of election. I had never thought it would become such a collective join force of sheer enthusiasm and exuberance to cast their votes. It was a clear sign that Myanmar people wanted a new democratic government. Emotions were high. Excitement was mounting higher and higher as time went by. Twenty hours flight from JFK to Myanmar seemed like a split second.
I wasn’t sure how things were in Myanmar except I could only visualize the facts I read from online over the course of a decade. The picture of flyover bridges and tall buildings were sprouting in the capital city of Myanmar. The last time I was in Myanmar was 2004, and this time I was prepared to embrace all the reactions and relationship from the people whom I loved so dearly, and I haven’t seen them for so many years.
Myanmar, an emerging new frontier from south East Asia region, was a new market to be explored, with a change of new government. Thailand was learning the process of how Myanmar had struggled toward achieving democratic government from dictatorship while Manipur and Nagaland were still struggling with their own internal agenda. Japanese companies were anchoring their businesses in major cities of Myanmar. English speaking Singaporean could easily be spotted in big shopping malls of Yangon. Especially, young Myanmar people were more vibrant than ever before. They were constantly learning and pushing their boundaries. As always, there were clashes between old eyes and fresh eyes of younger generation under the name of culture heavily overshadowed by religion. Clearly, Myanmar was moving along with the sudden shift of social paradigm. People were spending more time on online social networking web site and information, both fake and authentic, was flowing through unprecedented rate. It could become a major concern for capacity building if young people were hypnotized and occupied by virtual reality rather than physical activities.
There were voices of skepticism over new government and new politicians how they were going to handle the country in every aspect. Myanmar was locked in time for almost half a century, and went through different political stages. Wounded, but slowly emerging, democratic road map and visions were promised and set by new politicians. Even though most politicians in government seats were inexperienced to managing national scale level, Myanmar people were motivated by aspiration and high hope, and justified the process of transformation from old system to new system. Occasionally failed tactical implementation was disappointment for some people. Apparently, political movements demonstrated by politicians were still influenced by previous government. Government officials overseeing the bridge opening ceremony or chicken farm was still appearing on the national news as usual. Somehow, it was a reminder of their old scar from previous dictatorship and familiar political landscape.
Bureaucracy
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It was a bureaucracy that hindered the rise of market economy in Myanmar. Integration of government offices were never made to the reality. New laws were passed under new government, but those were practically clogging the pathway to fast pace business development activities. Old mentalities were still lingering on. Majority of government officials seemed to have the desire to change the old system, but they just didn’t know how to start and unable to break through the layer after layer of bureaucratic sediments, and eventually lost hope into the system.
Infrastructure
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China was raised with massive implementation of infrastructure and domestic work force. India has prominent service sector in IT. It wasn’t clear how new Myanmar government will implement and layout a business model that will create more jobs and encourage the growth of small and medium businesses. Crony business empires were still at large. Project plans to implement major highways that will potentially knit between major cities from East to West and North to South were not there yet. Most of the region were still culturally divided, especially highland and lowland, while some remote areas, where minority ethnic groups were living, were virtually inaccessible and isolated from major cities. Their culture and the way of living were unknown to most Myanmar people.
Income Inequality
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Income inequality was everywhere, even in the most advanced and constitutionalized countries. Myanmar was no exception in that aspect, instead much higher in general per capita ratio. During my eight months stay in Myanmar, I had to struggle to balance the expense of basic necessities for daily life and income. The gap was even wider for common laborers and lower middle class families who were the majority of the entire population of Myanmar. Job opportunities were sacred, and service value from common laborers was under appreciated. But, there was a glimpse hope for younger generation because of the growth in banking sector, tourism, and positive momentum in IT industry.
Ethnic/Internal conflict
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There were different perspectives on the conflict between local residents of Rakhine division and overdue Bengali immigrants. The conflict was already there long before I was born when Myanmar was prosper, but only came into light in these recent years after it became out of control from local authorities. People poured in their reaction with a mix of national sentiment and religion point of view. While widespread rioting and clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims were happening at the Western flank of Myanmar, Eastern end of Myanmar border was wide open for Chinese business men. From North to East along the border line, drugs and weapons were smuggled in from India and China, and out through Thailand to the other parts of the world. Myanmar government was already losing its ground and sovereignty over a few guerrillas and Wa army who were controlling some areas at the border line with their own armed force and fortress. At the same time, open highway from Yunnan province was just waiting from China side to connect with Myanmar at any given time. It was a challenging task for new government to find resolution for internal conflicts and union of minority ethnic groups and majorities. There was a resentment of ethnic minority group for being isolated and inferior of majority cultural domination.
After all, it was the most wonderful time staying in Myanmar and working with young talented people. I always have a positive outlook for everything I see, and it worked in every aspect of my life. I hope the same positive channel exuding and will connect with other people too.
Myanmar is on the road to recovery. When it is a long road and things are not clear to foresee the outcomes, I’ve developed the practice of breaking down into smaller pieces of outcomes and plug into different time frames as I planned my life in every stage. I’d see the Myanmar the same way in every slot of time frame and will pave the way to positive change. I’m still contemplating how long that time frame might be.
metta,
bk
